Spidey Stamps, Conan Bloodfest and More: Comic-Con Preview

Since 1970, comic book fans have flocked to Comic-Con in San Diego to get their fill of swag, panels and first looks at some of pop culture's most colorful productions. From a small gathering at Muir College and the Grant Hotel, Comic-Con has gone huge. It's grown into a star-studded gala at the San Diego Convention Center featuring comics standouts like Neil Gaiman and Los Bros Hernandez as well as red-carpet regulars like Nicholas Cage and Rosario Dawson.

But the stars are the comic books themselves, whether the old-school paper kind or new-school spin-offs on TV, film and the internet. This year's four-day extravaganza spotlights a slew of them, culminating in Saturday's Eisner Awards. Here are some of the works nabbing some serious San Diego shine.

Left: Comic-Con focuses on the Drawn & Quarterly artist responsible for the acclaimed Asian travelogues Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea and Shenzhen: A Travelogue From China.

Delisle, a Canadian native, crafted his fair-minded meditations on China and North Korea while supervising work at animation studios. Pyongyang and Shenzhen were first published by the famed French house L'Association, which was the first to publish the work of crossover stars like Marjane Satrapi and Joann Sfar. Along with Trondheim, Sfar and Satrapi, Delisle is spearheading an international boom in compelling comics that cut across subject matter as easily as national borders. The artist makes his debut U.S. appearance here on Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m.

Image: From Shenzhen, courtesy of D&Q

It Was the '60s

Bryan Talbot helped launch underground comics in the U.K.'s swinging '60s long before the influential 2000 AD publication made stars out of talents like writer Alan Moore. Talbot's arch, satirical early serial The Adventures of Luther Arkwright became one of Britain's first graphic novels, and garnered acclaim from everyone from Moore and Will Eisner to Jack Kirby and Neil Gaiman. That good will and hard work paved the way for the Lancashire-born artist to lend his talents to popular titles like Judge Dredd, Batman, Sandman and others, making him one of the enduring stars of comics.

For the 2007 gathering, Talbot is participating in his publisher NBM's 30th birthday party on Saturday from 5 to 6 p.m., and signing limited plates like this one in advance of his forthcoming collection to be unveiled at the Comic-Con.

Image: Bryan Talbot, limited plate art, courtesy of NBM

Visceral Barbarian Bloodfest

Game developer THQ showcases its hotly anticipated Conan the Barbarian game for the PS3 and Xbox 360 at the convention, where its visceral violence no doubt will go over like gangbusters.

THQ will also show off a World Wrestling Entertainment player for the Wii that allows gamers to lay a slap-happy smackdown on their opponents. There'll also be a downloadable demo for Nintendo DS loyalists of Drawn to Life, an action-adventurer that lets players draw their own heroic avatars and personalize the game environments using the DS' stylus.

Image: From Conan, courtesy of THQ

Most Unfilmable Comic Heads for Silver Screen

First published in 1986 by DC Comics, Gibbons and Moore's Watchmen has not waned in brilliance. In fact, after being named one of the most unfilmable comics of all time by none other than Brazil auteur Terry Gilliam (who knows more than a few things about failed epics; see his Adventures of Baron Munchausen for more on that score), Watchmen is at last headed to Hollywood at the hands of 300 director Zack Snyder. Snyder will be fielding, and no doubt deflecting, questions about his forthcoming adaptation of the comic epic on Friday July 27 in Warner Brothers' showcase of its upcoming films, which also includes the thriller One Missed Call, the Kate Beckinsale vehicle Whiteout and, no lie, an adaptation of the hilarious TV show Get Smart. Set your shoe phones to vibrate.

Image: Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen, courtesy of DC Comics

The Media Love Him

Writer Annalee Newitz isn't the only one singing the praises of Adrian Tomine, an Asian-American artist quickly becoming the Harvey Pekar of Generation Xbox. Author Jonathan Lethem, The New Yorker, Entertainment Weekly and others have also heaped on accolades. The Drawn and Quarterly booth will spotlight his upcoming comic Shortcomings, but there'll be no new wry, painful panels making an appearance at Comic-Con, as the graphic novel isn't due until October. A poster celebrating Shortcomings is free with any D&Q purchase, so those looking for Joe Matt, Miriam Katin and Guy Delisle fixes will be rewarded for their efforts. If they need a chaser, they could do worse than this sneak-peek panel from Shortcomings, which is likely to be Tomine's entry to Art Spiegelman-like fame.

Image: Adrian Tomine's Shortcomings, courtesy of D&Q

So Marvelous

As one of the Big Two publishers in the comics universe -- the other being, of course, DC Comics -- Marvel has more than enough panels, discussions and premieres at Comic-Con to satisfy any early adopter -- or even latecomer. Sunday's discussion of all things X-Men, including the upcoming Messiah Complex, pictured here, kicks off at 11:45 a.m., while discussions of Marvel old-schoolers like Gary Friedrich, Mike Ploog and more will be offered on Thursday.

Meanwhile, premieres of new films and series about Dr. Strange, Spider-Man and even Stan Lee are on tap, as are sneak peeks of popcorn blockbusters like Incredible Hulk and Iron Man, replete with Hollyweirdos like Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt and Robert Downey, Jr., to name a few. There's so much Marvel here that it's impossible to list it in a single caption. Best to scan the Comic-Con schedule and see which mythological character fits you best.

Image: World War Hulk, courtesy of Marvel

Putting a Stamp on Super Heroes

Speaking of Marvel, the company will debut a line of commemorative stamps at Comic-Con. Ten iconic characters are getting the miniature star treatment, including mainstays like Captain America, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk and Wolverine. Meanwhile, other stamps are taken from classic Marvel covers of yore, including first issues for Spidey, X-Men, Hulk and Sub-Mariner. (What, no Avengers? Weak!)

Web-slinging nerds should make a date with U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors member Mickey D. Barnett for the Thursday 10:30 a.m. unveiling, and don't be late. Remember, the post office is on time, rain or shine. So is Spider-Man, come to think of it.

Image: Marvel's postage stamps, courtesy of Marvel

Not the Brady Bunch

Although Comic Con's bread and butter is comics, television and film also get much love. And sure, Fox's forthcoming spinoff of the Terminator franchise may have started life in the frontal lobe of action-auteur James Cameron, it has since gone viral. The premiere of an extended edition of the Sarah Connor Chronicles pilot has been cut specifically for the San Diego Comic-Con, kicking off on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Chronicles stars will show up for the exclusive screening and subsequent Q&A session, including 300's Lena Headey, Heroes moonlighter Thomas Dekker, Firefly grad Summer Glau and Event Horizon's Richard T. Jones, as well as the usual slew of exec producers. Go with them if you want to live.

Image: Sarah Connor Chronicles, courtesy of Fox

Most Nominated Indie

While Marvel and DC Comics are the big guns at Comic-Con, neither of them beat indie titan Fantagraphics for most nominated Eisner titles: Fanta came in with 22 noms, while DC lagged in second with 18 and Marvel nabbed nine. And while the crazy diverse Seattle powerhouse garnered much Eisner love for titles by old-schooler Tony Millionaire and newcomers Michael Kupperman and Jason (no last name, thanks), one Fanta title that definitely did not make the cut was anything by Johnny Ryan, the company's resident equal-opportunity offender.

But don't let that stop you from visiting Ryan at his signing on Saturday and giving him a piece of your mind -- which he will probably eat -- while making sure to visit other Fanta standouts like Millionaire, I Love Led Zeppelin's Ellen Forney and many more. Love and Rockets lifers Los Bros Hernandez will get the spotlight treatment at dedicated showcases from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

Image: Johnny Ryan's Scumbag Party, courtesy of Fantagraphics

Literary Porn

While Alan Moore may have made his name with Watchmen, as well as labyrinthine exercises like From Hell, V for Vendetta and, well, pretty much everything else he's done, it is the literary pornography of Lost Girls (with Melinda Gebbie) that destroyed the envelope he's been stretching since starting out in the early '80s. Which is almost as long as Gebbie and Moore were working on Lost Girls, give or take a decade, before finally releasing the re-imagined narratives of The Wizard of Oz, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Peter Pan on Moore's new indie favorite, Top Shelf Productions.

And while he does get a huge share of the spotlight, it is Gebbie's lush palette and delivery that not only made Lost Girls one of the most important graphic novels of our new century, but also garnered her first Eisner nomination. Lost Girls is actually up for three noms, but Gebbie goes home a winner either way: She married Moore on May 12, in a revisionist ceremony only they could concoct.

Image: From Lost Girls, courtesy of Top Shelf

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